12/26/06 Restricting Renewables & Board Opening

Canada May Restrict Renewables & Corn board opening. I'm Greg Martin with today's Northwest Report. The Canadian government plans to combat climate change by regulating the use of renewable fuels in Canada. The government plans to regulate an annual average renewable content of five-percent ethanol in gasoline by 2010. And the plan is to regulate a two-percent requirement for renewable content in diesel fuel and heating oil by 2010. The government also plans to provide 345-million dollars to assist producers and rural communities in seizing new market opportunities in the agricultural bioproducts sector. Chuck Strahl - Canada's Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food - and Minister for the Canadian Wheat Board - says advancing Canada's bio-based economy is a priority - and these programs are an important step in achieving the government's objective - while creating new economic opportunities for our farmers and agricultural sector. Time is running out for those corn growers wishing to serve on the Corn Board. The National Corn Growers Association is currently accepting nominations - but the deadline is January 12th. Ken McCauley - NCGA President - says now is a great time for growers to determine just how involved they want to be with NCGA and the industry as a whole. MCCAULEY: I think all our growers and delegates need to look at are they interested in guiding the Corn Growers Association through the coming years because we look to the Corn Board elections as who's out there really looking to be deeply involved in our organization. Now with today's Food Forethought, here's Susan Allen. If you think the raid that occurred at the Mid West meat packing plants doesn't affect us, think again! A shortage of labor in the meat packing industry can translate to a shortage in our wallet pretty quickly. Because the meat packing industry has become dependant on an undocumented labor force, when that "force" goes away, employers must pay higher wages to secure workers and that cost is passed onto us. When police rounded up undocumented workers in six states, the following day the nations cattle slaughter dropped by 9 percent. The slaughter numbers have now returned because other US plants were able to absorb the excess cattle, but that might not always be the case. Packing plants aren't the only ones dependant on migrant labor. Imagine if these raids occurred in the hotel and restaurant industry. Why didn't they? So why was the meat industry in the cross hairs once again? Maybe there isn't such thing as cheap labor, whether we pay more for a pound of hamburger or higher medical and insurance rates caused by the influx of illegal's we get stuck either way. Thanks Susan. That's today's Northwest Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.